C section delivery and everything after with twins delivery #reignoftwins

For my c section, we were scheduled for 8am.
We didn't end up being brought in until after 1pm.
I wasn't allowed to eat or drink since the night before. In the morning I was so scared and nervous, I w
Had even asked for anxiety medicine (which the decided to wait on because it would make the babies sleepy) I had a million questions and concerns.
I truely wanted to be knocked out because I didn't think I could face getting a spinal. Or being cut open.
I'm 31 and have never had any surgeries or procedures. Not even a cast or cut big enough for multiple stitches. My previous 3 births were medication free.
I have a fear/anxiety for needles. I had to get over that in having to give myself insulin daily, on top of having a permanent double iv for my stay.
The morning of my c section my double IV turned into a quad IV. Two in each arm. In case of emergency.
 By the time they actually called us, I was ready. I was starving and just wanted them to be out and have it over with. I went willingly with a smile on my face and jokes spurring out (i handle nerves with sarcasm).
The spinal/epidural was no where near what I was expecting. It was more irritating than painful. He did miss a few times and sent a pain sensation down my left side. And he adjusted. The entire time I was talking and joking with the aid in front of me, that i wasn't a pin cushion an this isn't his first rodeo lol.
Almost immediately my legs went numb and they laid me down on a big pillow bed that inflates. I was secured leaning a bit to the side. And the doctor went to work. First they put in a catheter,which I didn't feel either.
I didn't feel a thing. Not one cut tug or pull. No sensations. When he was ready. He called my husband and cousin in.
As soon as he went to take out the babies. They popped out  together. Armed with one baby in each hand he passed them off one at a time.
The only babies delivered there with the same exact birth time. They both wanted and  needed out.
After joking of securing me with velcro and ducttape i was closed up and my babies were being little photogenic pros.
The doctor excused himself and my aid nurse went to work. She cleaned me up. Pushed on my stomach to get out the bulk of fluid. Fitted me with a new gown and pads. And got me into my new bed and all tucked in. The inflatable bed uses helium to move you from one bed to the other.
She handed me my littles and we rolled into recovery.
Here I had my vitals monitored for a few hours and the babies were taken to be checked out. She also brought me a pump and storage bottles because i wanted to pump and feed. We will get to the details of that in an exclusive pumping post. (Spoiler alert they are 4months and are stimm exclusively fed pumped milk)
By 430 we were back in my original room and ready for company.
The sensation had already come back in my legs, and the pain started to come. Quick pain meds solved that.
By 6pm I decided I was ready to use the bathroom and get rid of the catheter (even though I could have waited longer)
The first steps were the hardest. But i had a nurse on the front and an aide at my side. I felt like I couldnt stand upright. But the steps worked fine. It was just my stomach. Light pressure near my incision helped with that. They got me all cleaned and I was back in bed relaxing.
Later that night I was allowed to take a shower myself around 9pm because I showed them I could get up and move around. It hurt but was manageable.
Again it was only in transition (standing up. Sitting down. Walking) when i was stationary I was pain free
By the next day I was almost good as new.
But of course. I was feeling better and slightly overdid myself. I literally went to walmart on our trip home. I felt the pain after that.
Moral of it all. Get up and move around you'll feel better faster, but know your limits. And take the pain pills even if you think you don't need them.

High risk. Medical issues. The real fun begins. #reignoftwins

For starters. My beginning symptoms were very intense. Everything was worse than any previous pregnancies.
Nausea. Vomitting. Hardly keeping anything down. Headaches. Heart burn, sleeplessness.
It finally broke around 15 weeks and slowed down.
But then the real fun began. Not.
By 20 weeks I was already having pelvic and hip pain, my pelvis had seperated early for delivery.

Symphysis pubis dysfunction

Just keeping up with the kids walking, and getting out of bed was difficult. Stairs. Forget it. I felt like I was being ripped in two and couldn't stand straight.

Then followed the back pain.

Next, I was diagnosed with gestational diabetes and needed daily injections of insulin, a diet plan, and a blood sugar monitor.

Then came cholestasis. My entire body became itchy.

I would scratch and scratch and make my skin raw.

I was prescribed ursodiol 3x daily to help the symptoms. Basically your liver doesn't process correctly and it slows down causing bile to enter your blood and cause itching and other complications. It can get very bad if left untreated, even life threatening. Just this condition alone also warrants early delivery because there is a still birth risk after 36 weeks. 

On top of those two, i also was diagnosed with preeclampsia. And I had high blood pressure and anxiety issues regarding all of it.

My stress level was too high. They wanted to hospitalize me...on top of the bed rest I was already on. By 31 weeks. I gave in and admitted myself.

From 32 weeks to 36 weeks I was admitted. My c section was scheduled for may 4th at 36 weeks.

I had daily monitoring for non stress tests every shift (3x daily) because baby B levi had decreased movements. I also had ultrasounds and bloodwork every other day to check for growth and to check my levels. I was also given two steroid injections to help their lungs grow.
The last few days my swelling and high blood pressures were so bad i was moved to restricted bed rest. No more walking for snacks or showering alone. And i had to wesr these massaging boots that pretty much tied me to my bed. I had this restriction lifted the day or two before my section, by promising i would limit my activity to bathroom and shower or sitting at my table instead of the bed. The thought of being tied down was too much for me. I was going crazy.

Eventually, when they were born at 36 weeks we were warned about them being too small and needing to stay in the nicu. To our surprise. Our baby A Lily was 6lbs 7oz and baby B Levi was 7lbs 6oz. Huge babies for preemie twins. 

They passed all of their screenings. Passed the carseat test and went home after just 3 days like a normal full term delivery.

All of my conditions magically resolved almost instantly

Baby shower planning #reignoftwins

From the suggestions I was receiving, I decided we did want to have a shower. Afterall. We would need twice the supplies and baby gear.
I'm pretty creative, so most decor and games were do-it-yourself diy themed. I wanted elephants and giraffes. Jungle animals. That works.
I decided instead of a diaper raffle, I would have multiple raffles. And let me tell you. best decision ever. My littles are now nearly 4 and a half months and I have not had to buy any, I repeat haven't needed to buy anything besides clothing (because they grow like weeds)
I invested about $80 into raffle prizes. I purchased multiple scratch tickets, gift cards and little nip and soda bundles. All about $5 each in value. I also threw in a few kids prizes.
The raffles we had were
Buy any large item- get 5 tickets
Buy any pack of diapers or wipes- get a ticket for each
Buy 3 or more bath items- get a ticket
Buy any present- get a ticket
And we pulled about 3 winners from each. The big item winner we had grouped 2-3 prizes together making it a $15 value.
We ended up with thousands of diapers and countless wipes. At this current time I still have probably 20+ unopened wipes. And at least 10 assorted baby wash/shampoo bottles.
The diapers we outgrew so fast i actually had to exchange size 1s for 2s and 3s and we still have at least 6 large boxes left.
Having twins I was so scared of the financial change. and just this raffle alone eased that hit substantially.
Then the gifts. Two of everything just as I requested.
I had done my research. While some babies may not like a swing, all of the twins groups said the same. Forget the space. Make life easier and get two of everything. There will be times where they both want to swing, or they both need to sit and bounce while you sleep. With the exception of a diaper bag and bath tub. We were gifted in pairs.
2 swings. 2 bouncers. 2 highchairs. 2 walkers.
Its a life saver. Most days are spent in the swings and bounce seats at this age. And if we only had one. I would have half the free hands I do now.
Even the two bumbo seats, they both sit to eat.
They have slight issues with allergies and coughing at night so we went from sharing a playpen to sleeping in the bounce seats for a few weeks when allergy season and cold season was bad.
I regret having less space but i love having the options and having two happy bouncing babies.
Now. Back to the shower.
For games. We had...
Taste the baby food. (An assortment of 8 or so foods to taste with a popsicle stick and write your guesses)
Guess the belly size. (String and scissors)
Smell the dirty diaper. (6 diapers with candy bars melted inside. I used a blow dryer to melt them)
price is right. (I made a poster board with 6 or so baby items attached, they had to guess the retail of each, closest to the total amount wins)
And family fued. ( in one of my groups, i asked questions such as "favorite nursery rhyme", "whats in your diaper bag" when i got 100 answers i took the top three answers from each and gave them a point of 1 2 3. The guests answered the same questions and were given point scores. Whoever scored highest wins.)
And lastly bingo. Fill your card with possible gifts and check them off as they are opened.
Yup..a lot of games. Thats just my style.
In the end, everyone had fun. Lots of games were played. Lots of prizes were given out. And we got a ton of what we needed. It was well worth all of the work and planning. And well worth the hall rental.
The $100 I spent on the hall, was paid off once we recieved 2 walkers or 2 high chairs.
The $100 on food was paid off with two playpens or two bounceys.
Nevermind the carseat. Stroller. Bumbo seats. Play mats. Clothing. Bedding. Toys. Bathing. Diapers. Etc.
We got thousands in gifts for about $350 invested in a shower.
The only thing I had to buy post shower?
A diaper bag and breast milk storage.
Everything else. Gifted.

Words gotten out. 15 weeks twins Gender reveal. 3d ultrasound #reignoftwins

When I decided to announce on social media, it was my most commented on and liked photo ever.
There was so much support and well wishes it was overwhelming. I really was so nervous for what people would think, and the outcome was the opposite.
I have amazing family. I hadn't considered a gender reveal or a shower. But everyone was suggesting one.
We ended up doing a smaller gender reveal with my immediate family and a few friends.
We found out the genders at a 3d ultrasound location in our state. They specialized in early gender since it was at about the 16 week mark and my anatomy scan would be further out.
We planned a pasta dinner and I baked two small cakes and made them the colors they needed to be, for my youngest to smash into my oldest two childrens faces. They came up with the idea...something different and fun they said.

Its a Boy AND a Girl! Time for pink and blue everything!

Here's some more pictures if anyone is wondering what early scans look like...

OK...It's twins! Now what? #reignOFTwins

This post is all about finding out we were expecting, announcing to family and our gender reveal.
And a little background of testing and symptoms early on.
With three kids at home, and a want for another, we decided to go for it.
From the very beginning, there was signs that things were different.
The morning sickness was worse, sleeplessness, an over all feeling of blah. Even the heartburn, and oh the sense of smell. I could hardly bare the grocery store meat section or preparing freshmeat/produce.
I had never had symptoms so intense. My other pregnancies were a walk in the park.
My first blood draw, my numbers were really high. I remember them asking if I miscalculated.
I joked with my closest friend that twins had to be the only explanation. I was miserable. My numbers were high. That had to be it.
My first ultrasound visit was probably the most confusing of all. The tech was puzzled. She could see two round shaped objects, both different in size, both looking empty, but another view they seemed to cross over eachother. It was at this point where I asked if something was wrong. Her reply?
"I'm not sure." "At this point in your gestation (roughly 7.5 weeks) we should visably see baby and heartbeat by now. What I'm seeing, I'm unsure if its one sac (gestational sac) two sacs, or maybe even cysts. They surely look empty."
She left to talk with the doctor, and returned with the same thought process. They sent me home and asked me to return in about 10 days to rescan. Now while I was checking out, they had already requested that I make a secondary counseling appointment after my next scan. They wanted me to be prepared for bad news and ready to make any decisions warranted. I went home thinking surely this was a loss again. And I had been so miserable because my body was rejecting this pregnancy.
I went home and told my husband that I didn't really have answers and I was basically told not to get my hopes up. For the next week or so I didn't want to face what could happen. I didn't even want him to come to my next ultrasound because I inevitably thought it wouldn't go well, and I wanted to process alone.
Armed with my ice coffee and a head full of emotions anxiety and doubt, I checked in. I was brought into an ultrasound room. Given a talk of how we were checking of viability abd at this point if nothing shows theres nothing more to be done, and did I have a secondary appointment after. Yes. I did.
Meanwhile I was wondering why her whole demeanor was seemingly rude. If she was preparing to give me bad news a little friendlyness could make all the difference. I honestly think she was upset because she had to repeat the same scan she already did and made a educated diagnosis on the week before.
(Now, quickly just to say this was the same woman, that a week before hand told me not to get my hopes up. She didnt think it looked good.)
I laid back and closed my eyes.
Instantly I heard, out loud even- a laugh and a "oh my god" before even opening my eyes, I said whats wrong. Because at this point my nervous brain was wondering if I heard a laugh or a gasp-which would be a bad thing.
I'll never forget the words "Nothing is wrong, I cant believe it, there is two! And they are healthy" she quickly showed me on the screen and then left the room to show a parade of other techs that she had found twins. The only off putting thing was that they were measuring around 6 weeks. Which seeing as how I was 7ish weeks the previous visit. She guessed they were further behind and it was too early to see them before.
That theory needed some debunking...because if I was actually a full two weeks off in my calculations...I would never have gotten the original positive or sky high blood works when I did.
I wouldn't know until later on, that there could have been 3 babies originally. The larger, empty sac, could have been an unviable triplet blocking the view of the healthy twins behind. I say this because it explains that awkward first ultrasound, the long list of medical complications, and one of the babies having a double lobbed placenta nearly 3x the size of average.
Finding out we were having twins was a giant rainbow of emotions. Just minutes ago I thought I was facing another miscarriage (or blighted ovum. Or cysts) and now there is not one...but two healthy little beans growing!
My husband. I still needed to tell him! When he picked me up I immediately blurted out, I'm not sure if its good news or bad news, but there is two! He sat silent. Like if he was making sure I wasn't joking. Then it sat in and he was kind of blank faced and then bounced right back and said wow two! We can do this it will be fine! I made twins! Then I explained they were probably fraternal and he, while he played a part in making them, had no impact on the fact that there was two eggs lol.
Then I called my best friend, who also thought I was being silly. I guess I'm a pretty comical character 🤣. Once she realized I was being truthful. Her response? Shit just got real.
We all agreed, we should keep the fact that there was 2 a secret. So for the next few weeks I went about my days with lack of sleep and nausea to the moon. Until I was in the "safe zone" of 12 weeks. We announced our pregnancy and that a new addition was on the way.
My plan would have gone well. Until the due date confusion came along. My original measurements placed me at may 20th. With the adjustments, June 6th. But with planning my brothers surgery apt and vacations I had gone with "sometime in may". My grandmother wasn't happy with that answer and kept questioning me why I wasn't planning on a June baby and why my dates kept changing. Randomly during one of her bout of questions, i blurted out. I DON'T KNOW MY DUE DATE BECAUSE ITS TWINS.
At this point. Again SHE thought i was joking. She actually yelled and asked why I would joke like that and why I would say there was two. 3x I repeated "because there is!" Then my mother heard, and my children, and the entire house finally got the news and was shocked...excited but shocked.
What the heck will you do with two?
Where will they fit?
How can you handle both?
Are they identical?
That will make 5 kids!
The questions never end.
Believe me I asked them myself. But there was no going back now. Time for twice the fun, twice the fears, two of everything, and 5 children at home.
Now what?